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<pre wrap="">[Is this a leg pull? -twc]
</pre>
No, it isn't a leg pull. I still suffer back pain as a result of living that
way. This is what we experienced. I have photos, if you'd like, of me coming
from the well with buckets of water, etc. It was five years ago, and it was
in West Cork, Laois, Offaly, Kerry and Mayo (where my son was born.) I am
well aware that conditions in Dublin and the larger cities are nothing like
this, but we always lived in rural areas and it was very unusual for an English
person to be able to get a place to rent with electricity etc. The only places
we could find to rent were hovels. We were not married at the time but had
2 kids, and the locals called my wife a prostitute. One prospective landlord
in West Cork pulled a shotgun on me and our baby son when he found out we
were English.<br>
Education is compulsory, school is not. Many people teach at home and there
is no problem with that. The weather was a lot worse than I have experienced
in the UK so far, on average two or three degrees colder and a heck of a
lot more rain.<br>
The locals were very, very friendly to tourists, who are after all a major
part of their income. They changed their attitude if you wanted to live there.
We were not travellers (the Irish call them 'Tinks', short for Tinkers, and
they are reknowned for stealing; hence the bad reputation). <br>
Conditions may have changed a great deal during the last five years due to
EU subsidies, but I can give you the addresses of friends I still have over
there living in these conditions right now. My sons visited them a month
ago and they were mighty glad to come home to toilets and hot water.<br>
There is a wonderful American couple over there who were my neighbors; they'd
be happy to tell you how they lived before they inherited a lot of cash;
check out Tony & Christa Lowes; Eskevaud, Allihies, West Cork, Eire.
I think they're on line these days. Tony fixed my well when it got full of
cow poo one winter : ) .<br>
Best,<br>
AR<br>
*********************<br>
<br>
Terry W. Colvin wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid41AAAAD2.B2214DFD@mindspring.com">
<pre wrap="">On Friday, November 26, 2004 3:54 PM +10:30 Terry W. Colvin wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">[AR]
I know this is a response to a rather old post and I apologize for my
tardiness...
I lived in various counties in Ireland (Not the same thing as
Northern
Ireland, BTW -there is no conflict in the South) from 1986
until 1999,
when I moved to the UK.
The bad news:
We had no electricity, no toilets, no running water. We were not
unusual. Most of our neighbors didn't either.
Since we are not catholic, there was little chance of getting
employed
or a decent place to rent. We were treated as second class citizens,
known as 'blow-ins'. We were refused service in all catholic
pubs and
some shops and restaurants.
We were stopped on the street by the cops regularly and
searched for no
apparent reason. We were ripped off by the locals at every
opportunity. There are drunks everywhere, and real mental
cases wandering around on
the streets accosting people for money/booze.
Car insurance is prohibitively high. Irish roads (about the same
standards as much of Africa) meant we needed a new
gearbox/clutch/suspension every year or so.
It rains almost every day, and the winds are icy and blasting
for much
of the year.
The attitude to science? There were 5 religious education lessons per
week in our local high school and 2 science. Catholic prayers
had to be
done before and after every lesson, and in the mornings.
The good news:
You won't have to send your kids to school. (That's why we
did it). You
are very unlikely to get burgled, mugged, raped, beaten up or
murdered. Or indeed, acknowledged at all. Enjoy. : ) AR
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Sounds like rubbish to me, it would have to be a very isolated place to have
no water or electricity. As far as I found the locals are pretty friendly
(my relatives live in Ireland) and although they have their fair share of
drunks and catholics a lot of the drunks are tourists or visitors
(especially in Dublin :-)). Education is compulsory up to age 15. The
weather is no worse than the UK. And the roads aren't that bad either. That
isn't to say there aren't places like it somewhere in Ireland.
Trev
----------------------
well, we visited a not particularily touristy far-away
Donegal last summer, staying at "St John's Point"
(look it up, peninsula hanging into the Atlantic)
And the place was friendly and prosperous
(besides being beautiful)
all the way (we drove from Dublin).
We haven't seen any overt religocity
or backwardness.
Some survey just has found the Republic of Ireland
the best place to live in the world, overtaking
the Scandinavians - even with the bad points
from the weather.
(Which was cold, windy and wet about 70%
of the time, but it somehow suited the landscape...)
Eva
------------------------
I lived in the RoI for two years, moving to the U.S. just this past
May. The only Irish people who would be without plumbing and
electricity are Travelers, who are like the Gypsies of Eastern Europe.
Unfortunately, they are held in very low regard and are treated badly
by most of the Irish people I met.
- Greg
------------------------
The only time I ever heard that term was when I watched the movie
Snatch. In my experience, the slang term for Travelers was "knackers".
- Greg
------------------------
Travellers and Romany are PC, the only other
one I know is gypsy. And they are badly
treated everywhere in Europe.
Just yesterday there was an article (in G2)
about an exception - a permanent
concreted site with facilities;
with fulltime (gypsy) caretakers made the site
clean and crime-free and the local community
accepting the people there.
Interviews showed the hate that
existed for decades and then slowly
changed into acceptence
and even friendship.
All our "democratic" and "freedom-loving"
west should adore them - their tanacity to cling
to their unsettled life. However, if, as above,
the sites they visit over the year are civilised -
they are behaving accordingly, sending their
kids in the local schools etc.
Eva
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